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Global River Samples

July 28, 2016

Summer Student Fellow Julia Paine of the University of Miami (middle) and guest student Soumita Boral from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur (left) analyze water samples from the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Fraser Rivers with guidance from their advisor, Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink, a geochemist at WHOI. The work is part of the Global Rivers Observatory, a collaborative effort to investigate the chemistry of significant river systems throughout the world. By analyzing their chemical makeup, researchers can better understand how climate change, pollution, deforestation, and other factors are affecting river systems. This knowledge is vital for tracking the health of Earth’s watersheds and for predicting how the planet’s chemical cycles will change in the future.

(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)